Orthodox day school reopens after attack

Police arrested two teenage boys, residents of a home for youths with alcohol and drug problems, who were found on the scene.

This was not the first attack on the 12-year-old school, but it was by far the most destructive.

"They went bananas," Rabbi Zvi Block, the school's principal, told reporters. "This was totally disastrous."

Parent volunteers and professional cleaners worked from 10 p.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday to try to fix up the classrooms for the students.

Much of the graffiti was scrawled around a Hebrew sign admonishing, "Guard your tongue from speaking evil."

The two boys apparently acted alone and are not connected with any hate group, according to police.

A French-language school that sublets rooms from the Hebrew Academy was also vandalized.

Some 95 percent of the students reported to their classes on Monday morning.

"It takes more than this to bring us down," Block said. "We've been kicking around for 3,500 years, you know."

Much of the trashed computer equipment was purchased as a result of a major fund-raising effort last spring. A local businessman has donated $5,000 for repairs.

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